Saturday, December 27, 2008

I saw the movie Religulous today and I was actually pretty impressed. The information content on first glance in this movie was accurate and supportable by evidence. Maher's interview style was a little sloppy and several obscure people were interviewed but the overall message of the film was not negatively affected by these things. I did notice the use of the so called "Lord privy seals" which try to evoke emotions in the viewer, but whatever I don't like them but they weren't overly used in my opinion. Maher'sagnosticism and unchallenging nature may help to further expose the public to the ideas of questioning their religions, but considering that it doesn't give answers to questions such as science would, I am sure if this movie were to change peoples beliefs they would probably quickly fall into the pseudoscience realm as plagues much of Europe, or perhaps I am being to pessimistic.

This movie actually had the same feel to it as Prof. Dawkins documentary "Root of all Evil" with a trip to the gaza strip and the interview with an evangelical (although he was a black televangilist type).

Overall I give the movie two thumbs up and would reccomend it to most of the people that I know.

Research Highlights

Zoology: Queen Bee

About epigenetic factors that contribute to the genetically identical bees differentiating into queen bees or workers from feeding on "royal jelly", by way of using RNAi to interfere with specific proteins during development.

Research Highlights

Biophysics: Mob rule

About how protein structures can be modified in-vivo if the amount of space in a cell is limiting or available, very interesting stuff.

And I am not even done reading past the highlights. Check the papers out and I would like to encourage everyone to listen to the Nature podcast and read Nature every Wednesday for free if you attend University or are a faculty member.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The central dogma of molecular biology deals with the detailed residue-by-residue transfer of sequential information. it states that such information cannot be transferred from protein to either protein or nucleic acid.

The Central Dogma. This states that once “information” has passed into protein it cannot get out again. In more detail, the transfer of information from nucleic acid to nucleic acid, or from nucleic acid to protein may be possible, but transfer from protein to protein, or from protein to nucleic acid is impossible. Information means here the precise determination of sequence, either of bases in the nucleic acid or of amino acid residues in the protein.

Crick, F.H.C. (1958) On protein synthesis.

I just sat through two classes today where the lecturer made comments about the central dogma and was Wrong. The central dogma proposed by Francis crick is not the same as the positive statement put out by Watson in his book genetics.

Here is a quote from Larry Moran (Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto)who knows what the central dogma is actually about. (link)

So, how do we explain the current state of the Central Dogma? The Watson version is the one presented in almost every textbook, even though it is not the correct version according to Francis Crick. The Watson version has become the favorite whipping boy of any scientist who lays claim to a revolutionary discovery, even though a tiny bit of research would uncover the real meaning of the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology. The Watson version has been repeatedly refuted or shown to be incomplete, and yet it continues to be promoted as the true Central Dogma. This is very strange.

The Crick version is correct—it has never been seriously challenged—but few textbooks refer to it. One exception is Lewin’s GENES VIII (Lewin, 2004) (and earlier editions). Lewin defines the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology as,

The central dogma states that information in nucleic acid can be perpetuated or transferred but the transfer of information into protein is irreversible. (B. Lewin, 2004)

I recommend that all biochemistry and molecular biology teachers adopt this definition—or something very similar—and teach it in their classrooms.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

I thought I wasn't going to be convinced to vote this year, but holyshit I was wrong. Sarah Palin is sciences worst nightmare. I can't stand the bitch, so it is time to cast my ballot against that hypocritical bitch.

Abstinence only education = Palin's 17 year old daughter being pregnant (link), perhaps she found her future baby's daddy at church like Britney Spears younger sister. (link) I wonder how many attempts at the poophole it took before Palin's daughter decided to take in the otherside. (abstenence only pledgers 6x more likely to have anal sex link) Not to mention anal sex increases the risk on STD's, HIV for example 5x as high for receieving it in the poophole.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Damn homophobes at Hallmark Ala-moana refused to sell me any cards from their gay series today, even though they admitted that they had them in the back of the store in stock. Fuck Hallmark! On another note, why don't they have any type of Atheist cards?

Extension:OK, to the person who commented on this. I am not saying that it is not within the rights of that particular Hallmark store to sell whatever cards they want, neither am/was I trying to force them to sell me the cards. What happened is an observation on my part that the manager at Hallmark first lied to me claiming there were no such things then told me "We are not selling those cards during the holiday season" (even though it is august and nowhere near the holiday season) and would not sell me the cards even though they had them in stock and in their store and my reaction to that. It is the same as lets say an individual McDonald's would start to refuse to serve minorities or blacks, if that were the case I would say Fuck McDonald's. Perhaps, you are familiar with small pharmacies in the middle of nowhere refusing to sell contraceptives. Some small towns only have one pharmacy or one place where they can buy contraceptives from, if that were gone would you not object to such vile practices?

The reason why I brought up the Atheist cards thing was just because, I found that almost all of the worlds religions were being represented in every single section through out Hallmark. So why not sell atheistic cards, this is not a demand, just a suggestion.

On a side note, a friend of mine bought some of the cards the weekend before, at that same shop. But this was before Hallmark gave in to the complaints of Religious groups

The following is from a blog found here, which is along the lines of how I feel on the topic.

I'm all for Hallmark deciding to have cards honoring the marriages and commitment ceremonies of gay people - after all, it is the law in California and Massachusetts that gay couples can legally wed. But I do have a problem with Hallmark saying it's okay for it's stores to not carry the new gay wedding cards because, you know, some local Hallmark stores don't like homos. Would Hallmark headquarters let local stores pull cards that are geared to the black community because, you know, some local Hallmark stores don't like black Americans? Hallmark though it had a problem with the religious right, that's rabble-rousing to try to get stores to the pull the gay cards. Honey, you ain't seen nothing yet. It's one thing for a religious right person to be offended that Hallmark offers gay cards. It's another thing for gay people to see Hallmark engage in blatant bigotry against gay people. That's an attack on their own customers. Most religious right nutjobs couldn't care less about the gay cards, but every gay person will be offended to their core that Hallmark is tolerating bigotry.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

10)You are going to HELL! But Jesus loves you and I'm praying for you.I actually find this one funny.

9)Why do you worship the devil?Apparently people don't even know what an Atheist is.

8)America is a christian nation!Perhaps there is a correlation between religiosity and a lack of historical knowledge.

7) Anything to do with fruits or bananas in an argument against evolutionThis one usually makes me laugh and sad at the same time.

6)You are close minded and will never change your mind!This is the usual projection that theists prescribe too. They are close minded so they somehow think that you are close-minded too. Damn those mirror neurons.

5)If you don't believe in GOD, where do your morals come from, what is to stop you from raping and murdering people?It is called the law, if I rape or murder someone, I have to go to jail where I will be raped and possibly murdered, which are things that I sure as hell don't want done to me.

4) You are an atheist so you don't believe in anything!That is a Nihilist not an atheist, on the opposite side you have the post modernists and cultural relativists(ewwwwwww).

3)You atheists actually believe in a GOD but you deny him!I find this one the most annoying. The Christian idiot who states that one is one deluded person with major mental issues. A improper rebuttal would be "You theists actually don't believe in a GOD you just do it cause it makes you feel better!", but it sure would be funny to see the look on their faces.

2) Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim-jung-il were all atheists and atheists were responsible for all the horrible things they did.Nazi's wore belt buckles with "GOD with us" written on them. Atheism is simply a disbelief in GOD it is not a group of people with similar tastes, culture, or philosophical backgrounds.

1)What if you are wrong? (and all permutations of Pascal's wager)This one is tied with the other #1 so there are two #1's because they are equally as annoying.Answered simply by saying what if you are wrong! Then a list of religions follows.

1)You can't prove there isn't a GOD!And I can't prove that ghosts are not performing ectoplasmic orgies in my apartment, doesn't make it true.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I have received the paper by Dr. Linoli. And the data and results are both Unsurprising and Uninteresting. That's right scientists you can keep your hats on because miracles still don't have any type of scientific proof of ever occurring.

I will examine parts of the paper by Linoli, in terms of the claim that the blood and flesh are somehow miraculously preserved and fresh.(miraculously preserved and fresh for the means of this write up will be defined as follows: shows no signs of decay, tested for biological activity, presence of proteins and minerals in equal amounts to those present in fresh human blood.)

The flesh was found to be of human cardiac tissue, which is not surprising. But what of the claim that this was miraculously preserved.

At last, the action of long centuries on the Miraculous tissue, provoked the loss of anatomic pieces and consequently only one cavity was formed.Therefore, it is evident that without any cover, all the fluid phase inside the tissue was lost, making it mummified and reducing its size, that results lower compared to a normal heart.The surface is smooth, never raised or chapped or carved. We can widely notice little white spots strewn sometimes chapped, or like millet-seed, often flowing, soft, detachable, not belonging to any tissue trace, hardly diluted into a physiological solution (the microscopic investigation, revealed hyphomycetes colonies, from evident contamination). On the peripheral side of the tissue round sheet there are little holes, ancient signs of nail crossings.

The tissue structure appears markedly abnormal due to the lack of histochemical detectability of nuclei and to some degree of global homogenization.

Considering the nail holes in many points of the frame, we must conclude that the Miraculous Heart fragment which appeared on the altar of the little Church in Lanciano consisted of living material therefore tending, due to subsequent "rigor mortis", to concentrical retraction; the Basilian monks tried to prevent it, by nailing the Heart Fragment on a wood piece, and this, already small, retracted again in centrifugal direction, finally tearing up

The above are direct quotes from the journal article. Rigor mortis does not set in on fresh tissue samples! I don't think that I even need to rebut the claims that this is fresh tissue samples, it even had saprophytes growing on it.

Next the blood, as I quote again.

A minute Blood fragment has been included in paraffin according to Lenzi's technique.At the Emallume-Eosine staining, no cellular element can be detected, with the exception of a yellow-dark-green granular material with foreign bodies of vegetable origin.

That means that no cellular structures were identified, meaning no recognizable cells were left in the sample. Fresh blood contains blood cells, it is a contradiction to say that something is miraculously fresh when cellular structures and cells are no longer present. Foreign bodies of vegetable origin? The samples were contaminated also with an untested foreign vegetable.

Teichmann's reaction modified by Bertrand with hydrochlorate hematine and Takayama's reaction with hemo-chromogen, have been carried out on the ancient Blood in Lanciano with negative results, together with human Blood samples normally dried, which gave positive results.

The negativity of Teichmann-Bertrand's test and Takayama's test does not exclude the presence of Blood, as these tests can become negative due to sample denaturation.

This test showed negatives on both Teichmann's and Takayam's reactions, while showing positives on the dried control (lab blood). These tests don't work when the blood being tested is extremely decayed or contaminated. (Note how this also shows that the blood samples are not fresh or preserved miraculously, the article even states that the sample was denatured).

This study confirms the possibility that organic material (such as proteins) may be kept for a very long period, as if the fatal destiny of Flesh could be overcome.The discovery of blood group AB proteins and antigens in the ancient Flesh and Blood in Lanciano after 1200 years, is in agreement with the discovery of proteins in Egyptian mummies dated since 4000 years (Hanseman), and since 5000 years (Meyer),

This study was done in the 1970's, today we find that serum proteins can and have been easily preserved under harsh circumstances. Proteins were extracted from samples over 4,000 years old and even from 100,000 year old from blood on tools that were exposed to nature and not kept inside a church.

The paper even concedes on the point that organic materials may be kept for a very long period, as has already been observed in mummies at the time, where the techniques used in Linoli's experiments were developed.

While calcium was markedly increased, in the blood we found reduced levels of phosphorus, potassium and sodium. This mineral reduction can be ascribed to ageing processes or the progressive loss of tissue contents during the centuries, or to exchange of minerals between the tissue and the glass tube wall; to avoid this, in modern times, inert material containers are used for precious solutions.

The discovery of reduced elements within the sample are a direct result of the aging process, as is described within the paper. Note that the following assumptions by Linoli were neither tested or verified.

The increase in calcium levels (mg. 114,29%) in the ancient Blood in Lanciano can be related to falling into the goblet of building powder enriched with calcium salt, or to the vegetable fragments (flowers) found during the histological study of Blood.

The calcium levels are through the roof, (11times the normal amount, Did GOD have cancer? Or was he even human?) Also this is in obvious conflict with Linoli's recent assertions that the blood is the same as fresh human blood. Humans don't have these levels of elements in their blood!

I feel it necessary to address one more point before closing the case on this non-miraculous occurrence.

Supposing that the heart was taken from a dead body, we have to consider that only a trained hand in anatomic dissection could have obtained, with no difficulty, from a cave organ an "even and continuous slice" considering that the first anatomic dissections on human body, have been made after the 14th century (Diagnosis is fully confirmed by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli, Professor of Human Normal Anatomy at Siena University, whom I gratefully thank).

The case was made that this heart piece could not have been cut by man. Taken from his very own paper. He says that someone needs to be trained in order to cut the piece of heart. Subjectivity at its best. Note how he does not assert that this task cannot be done by human hands, because your average med. school student could have cut the heart out better. Not only does this statement not belong in the paper it is outrageous, Linoli only examined a small fragment of the heart tissue, I guess they decided to neglect the holes made by nails in this decision.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this is a very poor excuse of a paper to be tauting around as scientific evidence for a miracle. Not only does the paper repeatedly say that the samples were decayed, but nowhere within the paper is anything miraculous. A piece of rigor mortis human tissue and some decayed blood samples remnants were examined. This paper in no way proves that the flesh is somehow GOD meat. If you do not agree with my interpretation of the paper you are welcome to it yourself as I have uploaded it at the bottom.

Warning Amateur psycho analysis incoming:I think I know the problem with a large portion of religious people. They fail to question the things told to them by authoritative figures. When priests or their parents tell them "miracles exist and we have great evidence to back up all of our claims" I find it very sad that these people fail to ever actually critically exam what they are being told. Santa Claus is a fantasy for little children, GOD, religion, and miracles are the fantasies of grown-ups who never found reality.

A word of advice to any religious person who actually made it through my poor writing skills, check up on everything that is told to you as being true. The best advice anyone ever gave to me was this. During a conversation I had with an old friend from Denmark whom I met in my first semester of college. We were watching television and a preacher came on claiming that he could heal the sick, but he needed our money to continue doing it. My friend told me "look at that, religion is a joke" to which I replied "ya some of the things in the bible probably never happened", to which he replied "some things? The whole thing is bullshit, its all made up fantasy" and a light flashed in my head, "and I decided to check on the bible and guess what. Reading the bible made me an atheist. So I urge all of you to start reading bible, because reading the bible is probably the number 1 cause of Atheism.

Reuploaded this shitty paper since I see that people can't get it still: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9kNbgL3NNN1YTdmYzQ0ZTUtNjAxMS00NWI3LTgwOTgtOWMyNzgzOGY4MTNj&hl=en

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Alright I have been in a big debate on youtube concerning the alleged miracle of Lanciano, in Italy. As I can not find any good write up on the web about this particular miracle from a non catholic based perspective, I will do my best and show why I feel that this miracle is a fraud.

In the city of Lanciano, Italy, around A.D. 700, a Basilian monk and priest was assigned to celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice in the Latin Rite in the small Church of St.Legontian. Usually celebrating in the Greek Rite and using leavened bread and having been taught that unleavened bread was invalid matter for the Holy Sacrifice he was disturbed to be constrained to use unleavened bread and had trouble believing that the miracle of transubtantiation would take place with unleavened bread. During the Mass, when he said the words of consecration (This is my Body...This is my Blood), he saw the bread change into live flesh and the wine change into live blood, which coagulated into five globules, irregular and differing in shape and size (this number corresponds to the number of wounds Christ suffered on the cross: one in each hand and foot from the nails, and the wound from the centurion's spear). He was frightened and confused by the miracle, and stood a while as if in divine ecstasy, but eventually he turned his face to the congregation, and said "Behold the Flesh and the Blood of our Most Beloved Christ." At those words, the congregation members ran to the altar and began to cry for mercy. This miracle proved to him that unleavened bread was acceptable matter for the Holy Sacrifice. Years later other Basilian monks stole the documentation that was in the archives of the parish church. The Byzantine rejection of unleavened bread eventuated in the schism of 1054 that started out as a disagreement concerning the "azymes" between Patriarch Michael Keroularios and Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida acting for the already deceased Pope Leo IX.

Various ecclesiastical investigations have been conducted upon the miracle since 1574, and the evidence of the miracle remains in Lanciano to this day. In 1970-71, Professor OdoardoLinoli, eminent Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy, and Professor RuggeroBertelli of the University of Siena, conducted a scientific investigation into the miracle. The report was published in QuaderniSclavodiDiagnosticaClinica e diLaboratori in 1971, and reaffirmed by a scientific commission appointed by the Higher Council of the World Health Organization in 1973.[1] The following conclusions were drawn:[2]

There is no trace whatsoever of any materials or agents used to preserve the Flesh or Blood.

The Flesh and Blood of the miracle can still be seen today. The Host-Flesh, which is the same size as the large Host used today in the Latin Church, is fibrous and light brown in colour, and becomes rose-coloured when lighted from the back. The Blood consists of five coagulated globules and has an earthly colour resembling the yellow of ochre.

Let me start with the main claim that a cracker and wine turned into the actual flesh and blood of GOD. No witnesses to this event can be found, other then the originator of the claim in the 8th century(dark ages).

The story seems to tell of a schism in the catholic church about what kind of bread they should use, leavened or unleavened. It is very suspicious that a miracle would just suddenly happen at that particular time showing that unleavened bread was pleasing to GOD.

Evidence so far: one priest eyewitness account during the 8th century (Dark ages)

Now on with the story a supposed Dr. Linoli did a study on the magic meat and flesh showing the following:

There is no trace whatsoever of any materials or agents used to preserve the Flesh or Blood.

Notice how the shroud of turin is referenced, The supposed blood from the shroud of turin turns out to be nothing more then red ocher and vermilion tempera paint. Is it possible that Dr. Linoli used the same crappy methods as in all the other catholic blood tests used? (I requested the paper at this point in time so I can further evaluate these claims)

In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium. These minerals are normally found in blood but also combination's of them are also normally found in solutions made to preserve blood.

The Blood consists of five coagulated globules and has an earthly colour resembling the yellow of ochre.

In light of recent findings on the debunked shroud of Turin(red ochre), isn't it funny that this one resembles yellow ochre?

Also nothing out of the ordinary is found, a piece of heart flesh, and some blood. The only things out of ordinary are the inferences that are being made by Dr. Linoli. Question, was blood available at the time? Yes, the priest has blood in his body. Did the priest in the 8th century have access to dead bodies? Yes, the catholic church killed many people during that time. Can blood and flesh be kept in good condition for 12 centuries? Yes, many techniques were available to the catholic church during the 8th century, to think that a supposed miracle occurs and the miracle objects are thrown around and not taken extremely good care of is unheard of.

The original miracle is not even mentioned in Linoli's findings, so this paper does nothing to validate the original claim that this flesh and blood was originally a cracker and wine.

While studying this, I have found that it is incredibly difficult to obtain the original paper by Linoli and the paper from the World health organization. Neither is it possible to find any quoted information on what types of tests were performed on the samples, which puts major doubt on the validity of his findings. If his experiments were so rock solid, why are they no where to be found? The Vatican has billions of dollars, they could exploit this miracle like crazy if it were so bullet proof, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in converts. (they are probably to preoccupied with gay pedophilia to bother)

The WHO report photo does not explain how the experiments were done, it was just a reiteration of what Linoli previously said. It is just a long "we found the same thing", perhaps the same faulty experiments were performed? Considering how hard it is to find any type of documentation of the study done by the WHO I doubt it was anything special. ( I am still looking for the actual data from them if anyone knows where I can find it let me know)

One paper in an obscure journal is hardly proof of anything. Misinformation (albeit unintentional, most of the time) escapes the peer review process and is often published in journals, especially obscure journals such as the one Linoli published in.

These claims need to be rechecked with new modern techniques and unbiased scientists. The claims of previous supposed miracles when put under high scrutiny have yet to hold up to any type of scientific validity. (e.g. Shroud of turin, other blood miracles)

Ad hominim attacks just for reference: Dr. Linoli is apart of the catholic congress on eucharist miracles. Is he really an unbiased source of information that can be relied upon? The study was supervised by the Vatican and everything was done in Italy.

Links:Linoli's report can be found athttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4950729http://cat.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/search/a?searchtype=i&searcharg=0033-4979+&searchscope=1&SORT=R

other websites about the supposed miraclehttp://www.catholicherald.com/saunders/97ws/ws970911.htmhttp://www.doxa.ws/other/Miracles3.htmlhttp://www.zenit.org/article-12933?l=englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharistic_miraclehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Eucharistic_Miracle_of_Lanciano

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Alright, why is that people seem to think that making this statement "I'm not an expert on -insert (Biology, Physics, Politics, History)-" before going on to criticize those fields or topics think that they are making good arguments? They already admitted defeat by saying that they don't know a single thing about what they are criticizing.

Here is a poor example that I came up with, "Oh, I don't know anything about calculus but there is no way that you can calculate the escape velocity using calculus."

I am sure that many people have come across this before, it just really ticks me off that people think that this is somehow a good argument.

Another thing that ticks me off are people who criticize things without knowing anything about what they are criticizing. This is very similar to the scenario above, except that in this case the person doesn't bother with telling us that he is fool before he opens his mouth, you have to find this out after the fact when you get a statement like e.g. "Then why is evolution not happening anymore? Then how do you explain ghosts? Or, then how do you explain magic?" In both these scenarios the person has lost touch with reality and is depending on the fantasy world that has been built up in their own brains. Sorry to say this but ghosts, magic, anal probing aliens only exist in your imagination, not in reality. As for the statement of why evolution is not happening now, this is a problem of making up a fantasy version of evolution in your own head, no scientist thinks that evolution is not happening, the statement that it is no longer occurring doesn't even fit the definition of evolution, let alone have anything to do with the theory.

Just as it does not make any sense to make up your own definition of gravity, then go on to say that since your fantasy version of gravity does not work, this somehow proves modern physicists wrong, the same thing applies for everything else.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I plan to write an article on the evolution of innovative thinking. I have some great ideas as to how new ideas are formed and would like to get them out in writing.

Isaac Newton once said this:

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

My main hypothesis is this, the main way that most new innovative ideas are formed is by a synthesis of first understanding preexisting ideas, then the human brain forms new patterns of thought, resulting in a sort of a 'snowball' effect. In other words, once you have a foundational base of understanding the human brain can then form new correlations between those ideas, resulting in the formation of new ways of thinking and approaching problems.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

One of the most disturbed 7 year olds in all of America, no respect, no morals, and no intelligence. Black Community Church + GTA = bad combination.

Meet Latarian Milton, a 7-year-old South Florida boy who faces grand theft auto charges after he stole his grandma's Dodge Durango for a joyride with a buddy of the same age (who smokes cigarettes) in which he smashed into mailboxes, other cars, and street signs until the front wheels fell off. Why did he do it? "I wanted to do hood rat stuff with my friend." Seriously! Get a load of him and his swagger in the clip above. The best is what Latarian thinks his punishment should be totaling his grandma's car and nearly killing others: "No videos games for an entire weekend."

Myers-Briggs characteristics

According to Myers-Briggs, INFJs are conscientious and value-driven. They seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding themselves and others. Using their intuitive skills, they develop a clear vision, which they then execute decisively to better the lives of others. Like their INTJ counterparts, INFJs regard problems as opportunities to design and implement creative solutions.

Keirsey characteristics

According to Keirsey, INFJ Counselors are quiet, private individuals who prefer to exercise their influence behind the scenes. Intensely interested in the well-being of others, Counselors prefer one-on-one relationships to large groups. Sensitive and complex, they are adept at understanding complicated issues and driven to resolve differences in a cooperative and creative manner.

Accounting for 1–3% of the population, Counselors have a vivid inner life that they may be reluctant to share with those around them. Perceptive of the emotions of others, Counselors are themselves easily hurt, though they may not reveal this except to their closest companions.

INFJs are affable people. They are generally well-liked by their peers and are thought of as close friends and confidants by most other types. Nevertheless, it is difficult for INFJs to let their guard down, which in turn makes it difficult for them to establish close relationships with strangers and new people.

Not that I take any stalk in this social science bullshit, but I thought it fun to participate. Seems like my personality type changes every two years, too bad I don't recall what it was the last time.

I enjoyed the film, I thought that contrary to how most Hollywood movies disregard science or somehow show how science loses when faced with supernatural explanations, e.g. every single horror flick, this movie actually showed the power of science and a brilliant mind, even though it was mostly fictitious science (90% science that is not currently available, 9% defying the laws of Physics). This is a step in the right direction.

Good action scenes, nice graphics, no nudity, or sex scenes, some violence, some deaths, typical hero love story, typical villain, somewhat predictable, better then average. Overall I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 4 when compared with other films of its genre.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

While reading through one of the labs books on plant pathology. I came across a passage referring to an ancient Roman GOD named Robigus (The GOD of plant rusts). Now all I need to do is perform an ancient Ritual celebration called Robigalia, where I take one sheep, one cow, and one pig and cut their heads off. This practice is rightly called "The Triple Sacrifice."

Bwahahaha, watch out fungus, the GOD Robigus is pleased with my offering and will now show his mercy upon the infected Rose Apple and Ohia trees all over these Hawaiian Islands. What a great way to celebrate National Prayer Day. Robigus is a GOD of hate and vengeance, a GOD of action, he will come for you in the night, for he is an Indian who can turn into a wolf, yes, the wolfen will come after you, with his razor.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Take care of your body, work hard, exercise, learn about science and the world around you, think problems through, eat good food, talk to others, make friends, fight for justice, find something to care about, and be passionate.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Actually I may vote, if McCain chooses a horrible running mate, then I am going to vote for Obama. In all it doesn't really matter, I don't agree with any of the candidates. McCain, if he wins isn't going to do jack shit. On the other hand if Obama gets in, all I have to say is Good Luck keeping that guy alive.

Specific traits can be selected for only on a probability that environmental factors will be ideal for that specific trait.

Traits, such as intelligence can be improved upon throughout ones life, the human brain can and does build new neural pathways even in adulthood.

Global warming is occurring. A common hypothesis that people usually try to counter global warming with is this "Doesn't the world go through climate change cycles of warm then cold, and this is shown to be the case throughout history?" Answer: Yes, the world does go through climatic changes due to many factors including solar variations, volcanic eruptions and orbital changes, BUT NONE OF THOSE FACTORS ARE AFFECTING THE CURRENT CHANGE, the rise in temperatures is directly the cause of humans releasing green house gases into our atmosphere. more info here and here

(Opinion)Societies problems are not due to science, societies problems are due to a misuse of technologies mixed with idiotic stone age philosophies such as nationalism, racism, and religious dogma, along with frontal lobe disorders.

Awe Inspiring, Humans need to wake up to reality. Over 50% of Americans think that the earth is less then 6000 years old, 25% of Americans don't know that the earth rotates around the sun. There are still many humans who think that global warming is a conspiracy. Humans in third world countries have never even heard of global warming.

Science is not only for scientists, without a proper understanding of science (reality) humanity is at a large risk of killing itself off. How many people need to die from an ignorance of science? Wake up!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

A great contest called Guitar Idol has been started on the internet here. This contest is crazy, the best underground guitarists have shown up to display their skillz, but just like in Highlander "There can be only One!". The winner gets to play in front of thousands of guitar fans AND open up on the main stage for JOE SATRIANI at the London International Music Show.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I emailed a couple of the deans of the college of Natural Resources at Berkley about Dr. Pangs closing statement at the recent Anti-GMO rally and I quote: "you students here are lucky this is Hawaii, when I gave this talk (ref. to his Anti-GMO talk) at UC Berkeley afterwards I was approached by students who said that their professors had told them that if they attended my talk they would receive D's for their final grades". Now we wait and see if I get any type of response.

I am really worried, the public is so misinformed about GMO crops it is not even funny. How in the hell am i going to be able to genetically engineer humans when we can't even get anything done in plants?

Monday, April 21, 2008

Now I get to attend some sort of banquet. The person who won best overall gave a presentation on Determining the sub-cellular locations of Cyclic Nucleotide Gated Channels 19 and 20 in Arabidopsis plants. It is a bit odd though, I thought her presentation was the most boring, uninteresting and without purpose. I enjoyed the person after her the most, whose talk was about Canopy cover and understory clearing affect survival and growth of the invasive plant Ardisia elliptica.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Here is a nice video from a YouTube poster TranceDevotee. His videos are made up of great trance songs. This one has a ton of quotes from notable Atheists throughout human history. I've been a real fan of his work if you like trance check it out.

I have recently been noticing a worsening trend within the social 'scientist' community. A trend of a complete and utter lack of understanding of the natural sciences or what I like to call 'REALITY'. Why is it that whenever I hear a anthropologist or a political 'scientist' speak they seem to defend their views with "you need to respect my view", "you need to respect other peoples views", "you need to be sensitive to indigenous cultures", "I don't need to back up my claims with evidence I can just bullshit away until people believe me", "knowledge is democratic".

No person should respect false information. If you make a blatantly false statement, why should I or anyone else have to respect that? If you say that the earth is flat I will laugh in your face show you why it is a spherical structure and call you an idiot all at the same time.

I think its about time that scientists stop being nice about important issues, it sure as hell has not worked for 149 years of evolution by natural selection, stem cell research, GMO's, etc.. I feel that the public has gotten away with a misunderstanding of science because there are little or no social consequences. Ridicule can be very effective at making people change their views on issues. If we as scientists stop being nice to these idiots and call a spade a spade, maybe they will realize that something is wrong with the stone age ideas they hold.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Alright, what the Hell is Wrong with IDiots who think that evolution is 'just another theory'. Do you people just blatantly ignore evidence? Do you already come in with a false conclusion hammered into your brains?

Viruses and Bacteria easily mutate into different strains; does this knowledge that should be considered common sense somehow become compartmentalized in peoples heads? All organisms have a rate of mutation per base pair of DNA before they replicate or 'have sex'. The change in the frequency of alleles in the populations of the organisms can change depending on whether or not those mutations result in increases to fitness (ability to reach sexual maturity and reproduce) or decreases in fitness. Helpful mutations normally propagate, leading to changes in the frequency of the alleles in the population. Bacteria and viruses when subjected to medicines that kill them off, are subject to a form of artificial selection, resulting in the increase in the population of bacteria or viruses that hold genes that when expressed allow the organisms to survive. These changes in the genes are due to random mutation and if the organism with the helpful genes is able to reproduce, then the genes begin to propagate in the population. If the random mutation in the population does not produce the genes that protect the organism from medicines or other harmful effects that organism goes extinct.^^^^^this is Evolution^^^^^^^

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I've had it up to here 'insert gesture' with people saying we need limits on freedom of speech. The entire definition of freedom of speech loses all meaning when you put restrictions on it. Freedom of speech with restrictions is not Freedom of Speech!!!

If someone wants to deny the holocaust, say that gays are an abomination, say evolution is a lie, say that trolls are stealing their underpants, say that cigarettes are good for you and don't cause cancer, say that science disproves science, say that big foot exists, say that Atlantis was the first civilization, say that aliens are abducting them and force impregnating them, say that black people are inherently stupid, say that white people are the devil, say that Mexicans are lazy, say that Asians all have small dicks, say that 9'11 was an American conspiracy, say that China is the cleanest country in the world, say that Hitler was an Atheist, say that the earth is 6,000 years old, say that coffee enemas are good for your health, say that they can cure your disease and that you should throw away all of your medicine, say that you should give them money for you to go to heaven.

^All of that ignorant stupid shit, should be allowed to be said in a society that upholds freedom of speech. And anyone who believes any of that crap I listed above should say it out loud in public, so that I know where ever I go who the dumb fucks are.

I will go even further and say that death threats, inciting violence, and hate speech should be allowed in a country that upholds freedom of speech.

I will now go on to defend my position. If someone issues a death threat to me or someone else, then goes on ahead and attempts to murder me, I will be better prepared knowing ahead of time that that specific someone wants to kill me. After the attempted murder takes place, then that person will be sent off to prison. I would even thank someone for telling me ahead of time that they were going to kill me, it sure is a hell of a lot better then a gun being shoved into my face randomly. For anonymous death threats I would say the exact same thing.

Now why do I say that inciting violence in speeches should be allowed? Well not only was this entire country based on an incitement of violence against oppressors, but if the forefathers of the American revolution said "oh no, we can't incite violence, it is not proper". There sure as hell would have been no revolutionary war and no America to boot. If someone tells a crowd of people to kill someone, and that person is killed, the person who made the command should be charged for murder along with anyone else who was involved, this will help to weed out the loonies from society.

Now I want this to be clear so no one misunderstands me, if violent acts are done they should be punished along with the inciter of the violent acts.

Hate speech should be allowed. If someone is a hate mongering bigot, it doesn't make a damn difference if they are a closet hate mongering bigot. The punishment for hate mongers should be a shunning from the people around them, the loss of jobs, the loss of status, and the loss of a place in society is punishment enough.

For a rebuttal you might say, what about people who are planning terrorist attacks? If you are planning terrorist attacks buy a load of guns, gather up dynamite and plastic explosives, take flight classes, obtain a nuclear weapon and are stupid enough to tell everyone about it. Does anyone think that the terrorist attack would succeed? I rest my case, with no need for further explanation.

Monday, April 14, 2008

North Korea is a state in which you spend every waking moment in constant praise of the dead father of Kim Jong-il, Kim il-Sung the 'Eternal president of the Republic' .

“(Religion) is a totalitarian belief. It is the wish to be a slave (to someone) who can convict you of thought crime while you are asleep,” “Unless you’re North Korea, who wants this to be true? "A heavenly dictatorship would be like living in a celestial North Korea, At least you can Fucking die and leave North Korea. Does the Quran or the Bible offer you that liberty? No. The tyranny, the misery, the utter ownership only begins at the point of death. This is evil.”

Years back, as a child I was forced to attend Sunday morning and night services, I can only remember excruciating boredom, hunger "food wasn't allowed inside", and the glaring eyes of disapproving church members, who would talk behind my back while I would draw pictures all over the sermon program I was given.

Now as an adult I have an unquenchable anger at my wasted Sundays, sitting in a church where hate and bigotry was taught every week, and is still being spewed forth from that same pulpit. I cringe when my father tells me that he wishes that Huckabee had been the Republican candidate.

Here are some of Huckabees words of wisdom:

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And thats what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than trying to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family

God's standards eh. Let's review those standards:

The Ten Commandments: Punishment for breaking any of the laws is death by stoning

You shall have no other gods before me

I wonder what GOD this refers to? I guess all the other faiths except Christianity have to be killed, right.

You shall not make for yourself an idol

Now what is the use of this cherry? WTF!? Idol, whats that used for. To an Atheist idols have no meaning, who cares, really.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God

Fuck God, he doesn't exist, blasphemy is a victim less crime.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy

What church holds service on Saturdays?

Honor your father and mother

Sorry, but some fathers are child abusers and some mothers are crazy bitches, neither of the prior mentioned should be honored.

You shall not murder*

This didn't seem to stop the 'imaginary' Israelites, but I'll bite, although I do see certain situations when murder might be permitted, e.g. someone who is trying to kill me, I would definitely kill them before they get me.

You shall not commit adultery

Marriage is overrated, relationships are overrated, outside of reproduction, imaginary bonds hold no ground in reality. (you don't have to agree with me this is just my opinion)

You shall not steal***

If I was faced with death from hunger or stealing I sure as hell would steal. I can come up with an infinite other hypothetical situations where stealing would be beneficial.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

This one is ok, but why would you be put to death over breaking this one?

You shall not covet your neighbor's house

If your neighbor has a better house then you and you are not happy with your current situation, why not covet his house? I could see coveting leading to an increase in ambition and a better contributer to society as a whole.

Seems like God's standards are outdated. Now why the hell would anyone want this crap in the constitution?

Puccinia psidii was first found on potted ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha) on Oahu and has been severe on rose apple (Syzygium jambos).In Kamuela, brush cherry (Eugenia paniculatum) is infected with a rust disease and it would be a new record for this host in the family Myrtaceae.Brush cherry is widely used as a landscape plant, hedge, or potted ornamental.Our objective was to confirm the identity of the rust.Diseased plants were collected and examined microscopically.Typical urediniospores were found, which fit the description of P. psidii.In 2007, molecular analysis showed that only one strain was present in Hawaii on several hosts tested.Molecular analysis was completed for the brush cherry rust and it is similar to the other P. psidii strains collected in Hawaii.There are at least 8 strains of P. psidii known in the world and each strain is believed to attack different hosts based on early studies.The Hawaii strain causes severe disease on rose apple.Categorizing and monitoring the movement of P. psidii in Hawaii and globally will help to understand the distribution of this rust in different temperatures and humidity levels.

I am up at ~12:00pm, agriculture science bldg. room 204 University of Hawaii.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Alright, so this guy is pregnant? But wait, he used to be a girl from Hawaii.

Beatie wrote an article for The Advocate, a magazine for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers. In the article Beatie wrote that he went through a sex change, but decided only to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy. Beatie was able to keep the reproductive organs he was born with, according to the story.So apparently this person went through a 'sex change'. How you can call a sex change taking some pills and cutting off your breasts is beyond me, but more importantly is, why the FUCK is this in the news? This person started off as a female with functioning female reproductive organs, wasn't satisfied, so she took to the knife, started pounding pills and changes her sex without removing any of her reproductive organs? Apparently Americas news media and Oprah consider someone a man/woman based upon whether or not they call themselves one.

Although there is no clear definition as to what is considered a male, female, male/female, or no sex. I think that a proper list can be constructed from highest priority.

1) Functional sexual organs at birth coded by by available genes and gene regulatory factors by expressed phenotype with environmental consideration.2)Are the functional sexual organs still present in the individual?3)Selective choice in the matter/Personal identification.

So in the case of this person I think the he, still falls under the she, due to the retention of the female sexual organs. If this person had no functional sexual organs then it would just be considered no sex. As of yet scientists cannot graft on functional reproductive organs to a human body. Female reproductive organs resulting in a pregnancy are no big news, it happens every day.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Well anyway this guy thinks it will be next month.Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov was in the hospital yesterday after he was discovered hitting himself over the head with a log. Members of his religious group have been hiding in a cave since November, believing that the world would end in May.If the world is gonna end. What is the point in hiding in a cave?

Well, to be fair he does still have a month to be proved wrong. And with a face like that. How could he be wrong?

"They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines."

The Extended Phenotype

An animal's behaviour tends to maximize the survival of the genes "for" that behaviour, whether or not those genes happen to be in the body of the particular animal performing it.

Monday, March 31, 2008

On the 28th of March LiveLeak.com was left with no other choice but to remove the film "fitna" from our servers following serious threats to our staff and their families. Since that time we have worked constantly on upgrading all security measures thus offering better protection for our staff and families. With these measures in place we have decided to once more make this video live on our site. We will not be pressured into censoring material which is legal and within our rules. We apologise for the removal and the delay in getting it back, but when you run a website you don't consider that some people would be insecure enough to threaten our lives simply because they do not like the content of a video we neither produced nor endorsed but merely hosted.

I recently came across this quote from an avid Muslim: "Do U know, word "Islam" in Arabic means "Peace" So, Islam = peace" What outstanding logic. I think I'll put it to use, lets see my group will be called 'happy fun squad', our goals include oppression of women, stoning infidels, and stabbing movie producers through the chest with 5 page letters.(Theo van Gogh).

Religion of peace, my ass. These fools can claim their religion is a religion of peace once the death threats stop. I don't agree with a lot of the things in the movie, but I sure as hell respect the movie makers universal human right to voice his opinion on the subject.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The elusive PZ Myers has struck again. Taking advantage of his mad secret agent skillz, only rivaled by that of the original 007 Sean Connery. PZ Myers skillfully deciphered the creationists secret code in time to inform the listeners of the expelled conference call (march 28th) that questions such as: "How can you be so intelligent and question Darwinism?" addressed to Ben Stein, false statements about evolution, lies about the origins of the movie, Lord Privy Seals, and the IDiotic premise of the film that the Holocaust was a consequence of evolutionary theory, Will Not Go Uncriticized.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Here are some pictures I took of the insect found eating Puccinia Psidii rust urediniospores.

I reared the larval stage (~1 mm long x .3 mm width) to obtain the adult form (~1mm x 1mm) and sent it off to the department of agriculture insect department for identification. It seems to be a new species of Cecidomyiidae.